The Book on British Small Arms ammunition was by PETER LABBETT, not “Phil Labbett.” I know it was just a typing lapse, but I hasten to correct it because Peter was, in the world we cartridge collectors walk in, a giant. Not aonly a highly competent reseracher and knowledgeable collector and student of ammunition, but also just a darned good guy!

Interesting to see the types of propellents used, all of them being extruded IMR type, and how they appear to fill up most of the internal volume. Were the actual disassembled rounds filled to the points shown in the cutaways?

The round loaded with the S12 CNCS bullet is the 7mm Mark 1z that was adopted unilaterally by Britain in August 1951. This had a slightly increased charge as shown that gave an MV of 2550 fps compared with the 2415 fps of the 140 grn bullet in the .280/30.

Subsequent to this when the BBC trails were held in the Yukon in early 1953 the 7mm Optimum (also called by the Belgians the 7mmS) consisted of the .280/30 case with the S12 bullet seated less deeply to an overall length of 2.6". Although this had the same ballistics as the 7mm 1z it was called “optimum” because the extra propellant space gave room for further development. It was not proceeded with after the Yukon trials.

EOD - the RG .280/30 with the green tip you have is found as both a ball round and the “coal dust” dummy as Jim says. This is the mild steel cored Type B bullet. The lead cored Type B has a yellow bullet tip.

There is also an earlier Kynoch made green tipped Type B with the headstamp “K 48 .280”.

[quote=“TonyE”]EOD - the RG .280/30 with the green tip you have is found as both a ball round and the “coal dust” dummy as Jim says. This is the mild steel cored Type B bullet. The lead cored Type B has a yellow bullet tip.

There is also an earlier Kynoch made green tipped Type B with the headstamp “K 48 .280”.

Regards
TonyE[/quote]

OK, now I’m confused, again. Repeating my ealier post:

[i]I have only one representative sample of the 280/30. It has the yellow tip but is magnetic weak at the tip and then gets more magnetic toward the base. HS = RG 50 280/30.

Would I have a Type B? And is that (Type B) the correct way to catalog it?[/i]